Conestoga College offers Diploma in Early Childhood Education, a diploma in Early Childhood Education programme in Kitchener, Canada. The programme runs for 2 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 15,477 per year (CAD 2,750 per year for local students).
This two-year diploma prepares students for professional practice in early learning and child care through a combination of interactive classroom learning and work-integrated learning experiences. Students build skills for collaborating with families, colleagues and communities to design, implement and evaluate inclusive, play-based early learning programs, grounded in an understanding of child development and responsive practice. Placements happen alongside college-run child development centres and community agencies, together with kindergarten classrooms and licensed early learning and care programs, connecting classroom theory with practice.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Direct entry requires an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), or equivalent, or applicant age 19 or older under mature-student status, plus Grade 12 compulsory English at C (65% minimum) or U (55% minimum), or equivalent, or Conestoga's Preparatory Communications COMM1251 at 65% minimum. Applicants whose transcripts come from institutions where English was not the language of instruction must demonstrate proficiency; the programme page states only that a sound English background is important for success and does not publish its own score table, so Conestoga's institution-wide scale applies: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 (no band under 5.5), TOEFL iBT 80 (no skill under 20), PTE Academic 53, CAEL 70 (writing at least 60), or Duolingo English Test 110. Before any work-integrated learning placement, students must present a complete immunization record (MMR and Tdap), a current one-step TB test within one year of the program start, Standard First Aid with CPR/AED Level C, and a Vulnerable Sector Screening police check completed within three months of the start date.
Application Details
Start Date:September, January and May
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants apply through ontariocolleges.ca (college code CONS): for the Fall 2027 intake the online application opens 26 September 2026, the equal consideration date is 1 February 2027, offers may be issued from 1 November 2026, and accepted offers must be confirmed by 1 May 2027; most oversubscribed programs stop accepting applications after 1 February 2027, though many programs remain open afterward. Conestoga does not publish a separate equal-consideration date for its January intake. International applicants apply directly to Conestoga and are assessed on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis until each program fills; no fixed international closing date is published. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
